The nuraghi of Olbia: a journey to discover the ancient history of Sardinia

An ancient and fascinating civilization that embraces a period of time between the Bronze Age (1700 BC) and the 2nd century AD. Nuragic culture has left many testimonies throughout the territory of Sardinia. Testimonies as the famous nuraghi of Olbia.

The most beautiful ones are these. To make an authentic tour to discover the ancient history of Sardinia.

Sa Testa

The sacred well of Sa Testa is only part of the whole complex made of granite. A complex that also includes a courtyard, a vestibule, and a small junction between the courtyard and the real well. The sacred well of Sa Testa is one of the most famous monuments of nuragic culture, with its source that is 17 meter depth.

Getting to Sa Testa from Olbia is very easy: by car, just take the provincial road 82 towards Pittulongu (moreover, Pittulongu is also one of the most beautiful beaches in Olbia). By car it takes about ten minutes but, if you are good walkers, on foot you will be there in about an hour.

Riu Mulino

Also known as Cabu Abbas, Riu Mulinu is a Nuragic fortress: a large enclosure surrounds the summit of the hill where it is built, and it is in fact a nuraghe built on that small hill. It is in this nuraghe that the famous bronze of the Potrtatrice d’acqua (water carrier) was found again.

The Nuraghe Riu Mulinu is located just at north of Olbia and is also very easy to reach: just take S’Iscoglia and follow the directions for the nuraghe, the car journey takes less than twenty minutes.

Other nuraghi in Olbia

Those just mentioned, Sa Testa and Riu Mulinu, are the main nuraghi that you can admire near this city. But they’re not the only: in Olbia there are more than fifty nuragic settlements in all, erected from the earliest Bronze Age.

And so among those to be seen there are still the nuraghe Putzolu, the nuragic village Belveghile, the nuraghe Mannazzu (or Mannacciu), the nuraghe Siana (or Zucchitta), the nuraghe Sa Prescione ‘e Siana, the tomb of giants of Su Monte ‘e s’Ape (one of the most beautiful nuraghi of all Sardinia).

The nuraghi of Olbia are the testimonies of an ancient world that still today exerts its charm. And to see them just book one of the many ferries to Sardinia departing every day.